Embarrassing story with happy ending.

I would like to share a story. I was turkey hunting day 1 of season C this morning. I saw a pair of toms but they did not come close enough. At 10:30am, I hung it up and left. I left my blind there but I carried some other stuff and my 12 gauge back to the truck. I laid my loaded 12 gauge on the open tail gate while I put some other stuff in the cab…and then forgot to put my gun away. I drove away with it like that. When I got back to my parents house, I saw my tail gate open and thought “huh, wonder how that happened” and then I couldn’t find my shotgun. I thought I had simply left it in my blind. So I drove back there to confirm. Not there.

So then I sort of go into panic mode. I thought “oh sh** I left it on the tail gate and drove away with it loaded.” So I’m retracing my route on the country gravel road looking for it. Its camo but everything is still brown so I thought I would find it on the road or in the ditch. I didn’t. Not only am I upset that I lost this $600 shotgun, but now I’m worried that someone who isn’t qualified to own or operate a loaded shotgun may find it. Or a 6 year old riding his bike.

I decided to call the sheriff and at least inform someone that I lost a loaded shotgun and couldn’t find it. I explain to him what happened, the bonehead move I made, and he says someone turned in a shotgun half an hour ago. He verifies who I am, DOB, address, type of shotgun, and where I lost it, and about 15 minutes later one of his deputies calls me and I go to the station to pick it up. They just needed to verify it was mine through the serial number.

As it turns out, it fell off my tail gate as I was accelerating on to the highway. An off duty EMT saw it, pulled over, discharged the shells, and turned it in. The deputy gave me his number and I called him after I went to go pick it up and thank him. He said he was “glad to help” and that he once did the exact same thing with a muzzle loader, and someone else turned it in so he could recover it, so he knew the exact feeling I was experiencing. I thanked him several times and recovered the shotgun. It only has very minor scratches from hitting the road in one spot, and no other damage. I intend to use it for a few more days turkey hunting.

I just wanted to say that I’m grateful that there are individuals out there still do good deeds like this. That guy not only made my day, but may have also prevented something worse from happening.

Good on that person to do the right thing. I set my gun down in tall grass and it took me 30 minutes to find it once. Wont do that again either, like I am sure you wont just set yours on the tailgate.

“EMBARRASSING STORY WITH HAPPY ENDING”
That could have gone in a different direction.

Big time ooof there happy to hear you got it back. Imagine you were puckered up pretty good by the time you called the Sherriff’s office.

Similar story in college some friends borrowed my truck to go goose hunting one evening and apparently on the way home a gun fell out the rear topper door. No happy ending for them though they looked for days but never found it and no one ever turned it in.

Who seriously keeps a lost gun? Yeah I think I know the answer to that one

WOW.. lucky ! Quick story kind of similar. 5 of us going Deer Hunting in Manitoba. All 5 rifles in hard cases, laid in the bed of one of the trucks (RAM 2500) We left Rice and drove up 94 and stopped for breakfast at the Big Sioux Cafe in Grand Forks. It is then, a guy notices the tailgate is down on the truck… OMG… there is still 5 rifles in cases in there. We had no idea if it was left open or what happened… Quick math put about $20,000 worth of rifles in there. A year later, the tailgate ghost opening recall came out…

I’m sure that EMT wouldn’t appreciate you telling everyone he gave you a happy ending…but glad it worked out for you!

BigWerm wrote:

I’m sure that EMT wouldn’t appreciate you telling everyone he gave you a happy ending…but glad it worked out for you!

Unless it was a she?

Good deal on getting the gun back. But on your opening morning you quit at 10 ? Hunting field or woods ?

Bearcat89 wrote:

Hunting field or woods ?

My blind is on the edge of a field just tucked into the timber.

I can’t believe of all the Fancy features they have on Automobiles these days that there is not a tailgate open warning of some kind. I can not tell you the # of times I have drove around with a tailgate open by mistake. Sometimes I’ve been lucky, and others times not so lucky.

fishthumper wrote:

I can’t believe of all the Fancy features they have on Automobiles these days that there is not a tailgate open warning of some kind. I can not tell you the # of times I have drove around with a tailgate open by mistake. Sometimes I’ve been lucky, and others times not so lucky.

Rearview mirror lol
I watched a couple worker loose a saw out of his new at4 the other day. Luckily I was behind him. But I think those trucks do tell you when it’s down

CaptainMusky wrote:

I set my gun down in tall grass and it took me 30 minutes to find it once.

Glad I’m not the only one that’s done that!

Bearcat89 wrote:

Rearview mirror lol
I watched a couple worker loose a saw out of his new at4 the other day. Luckily I was behind him. But I think those trucks do tell you when it’s down

I have a soft cover on my truck. No way you would see the tailgate down in a rearview Mirror. when I have the sideview Mirror set the way I like it you also can not see when the tailgate is down.

I watched in my rearview as my bait bucket, cooler, and some other stuff came off of my tailgate. Funny part was I had gone almost a mile without losing anything until that stop sign. Pretty embarrassing going into the intersection to clean up my stuff.

In the early nineties I received my dad’s two shotguns when he died. I let my younger brother and his son use them to duck hunt around Lake Fork in Texas. After a hunt he placed both of them on the roof of their car and put the rest of the gear in the trunk got in the car and drove away. When he got home no shotguns. He told me it explained why the guy following him on the highway had chances to pass him but never did. Not a lot of monetary value in those two guns but a lot of sentimental value. Still makes me grit my teeth to think of it.

steelslinger71 wrote:

In the early nineties I received my dad’s two shotguns when he died. I let my younger brother and his son use them to duck hunt around Lake Fork in Texas. After a hunt he placed both of them on the roof of their car and put the rest of the gear in the trunk got in the car and drove away. When he got home no shotguns. He told me it explained why the guy following him on the highway had chances to pass him but never did. Not a lot of monetary value in those two guns but a lot of sentimental value. Still makes me grit my teeth to think of it.

That’s a bummer. Surprised they didn’t hear them slide off the roof.

Always thought the same thing.

gimruis wrote:

I would never just leave my guns sitting out in the open. They are worth way too much to me.

Be happy hf 396 hasn’t passed. Seems like a simple mistake like this could get someone in quite a bit of trouble…

FishBlood&RiverMud wrote:

Be happy hf 396 hasn’t passed. Seems like a simple mistake like this could get someone in quite a bit of trouble…

That sort of thing crossed my mind when I was frantically trying to find it. What if someone finds it that isn’t permitted to own a gun, or a child riding their bike? Could I potentially be responsible for something like this? The shotgun was loaded with magnum turkey shells. When I couldn’t find it, then I figured calling the sheriff and at least informing someone that a loaded shotgun has been lost would help my cause.

Of course then I found out a nice someone did in fact find it and turn it in.

Glad it ended the way it did! And you of course already know this: you 100% would be liable, at least civilly, if this had gone another way. Right or wrong, your firearm.

My son and his buddies were hunting public last fall in IA and found a Super Black Eagle in the ditch next to the parking area/gate. They were standing there googling a non-emergency number for the sheriff when a guy came crankin down the gravel…a cold sweat on his face. A quick hand-off and he was back on his way. Same deal: left a loaded shotgun on his tailgate.

I’ve been thinking of doing this and after your experience I am going to add a small yellow rubber knob to the top of my tailgate so I can constantly see in the rear view that it is closed. Thx for the motivation!

Once we drove from the twin cities to Mille Lacs, and I left my tackle bag on my buddies open tailgate. We pulled into the ramp by Garrison and here it was still sitting on the tailgate! I still can’t believe it didn’t fly off.

CaptainMusky wrote:

Good on that person to do the right thing. I set my gun down in tall grass and it took me 30 minutes to find it once. Wont do that again either, like I am sure you wont just set yours on the tailgate.

I have a cheap Charles Daly 20ga pump in hardwoods camo. I bought it for the young ones coming up but it was so light I decided to carry it myself a few times. I learned to lean that gun against the biggest, darkest tree in my vicinity because leaning against saplings or laying it on the ground always resulted in a frantic search for the gun I’d just set aside! I follow that practice with every gun now. It’s not hard to relocate the biggest tree (that I’ve walked to) and the color contrast helps a lot too!